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Saturday, December 11
Rapid Response Network: An American Conversation
by
Trish Nelson
on Sat 11 Dec 2004 10:06 PM CST
 Rapid Response Network: An American Conversation
Progressive Democrats of America - www.pdamerica.org
"In our nation the people are sovereign, not the government. It is the
people, not the media or the financial system or mega-corporations or
the two political parties, who have the power to create change."
-
Governor Howard Dean
Rapid Response Network, first formed as a grassroots effort to advance
the campaign of Howard Dean, acts as "first responders" to media
coverage that contains factual inaccuracies or biased reporting. Since
its inception, nationwide membership has grown to approximately 2,500.
Rapid Response Network in its action alerts makes a simple request: We
want a debate in this country based on substance rather than form,
based on truth rather than misquotes, misrepresentations and outright
lies.
As the media increasingly speaks with one voice, Rapid Response,
at its heart, is a vehicle for insuring many voices are heard, for
engaging "We the People" in our democracy. The action alerts are the
product of a day's worth of discussion on our 52 Yahoo groups - state
coordinators talking to people in their states, in turn talking to the
other state coordinators, reading newspapers, identifying issues,
researching information and sharing resources. The reports we send out
are a phenomenal collaboration - an American conversation.
As RR members are consumers of publications across the country, our
efforts can play a critical role in insuring responsible, principled
journalistic efforts, thus allowing the public a more fair hearing of
progressive candidates and causes. The unique Rapid Response structure
provides the muscle of national resources and organization with the
effectiveness that can only be achieved by acting at a local level.
State RR groups can become powerful tools for supporting local and
state progressive candidates, providing a counterbalance to the
organizational strength of the GOP in smaller cities across America.
RR letter writers achieve victories on a daily basis all over America.
Rapid Response alerts have been picked up by Columbia Journalism Review
Campaign Desk, Buzzflash, and Democrats.com, among others. In the lead
up to the Iowa Caucuses, RR organized Iowa letter writers to correct a
misquote, resulting in a page 1 correction in the Des Moines Register.
Each day we focus large numbers of letter writers on the important
issues of our time, resulting in capable fact-based letters published
across America, from the tiniest hometown papers to the Washington Post
and New York Times.
Rapid Response letter writers have affected
television coverage as well - in one instance RR letters forced a
retraction of a misquote on CNN's American morning with the comment "we
heard from a lot of you on this one."
Speak up. Join Rapid Response. Five minutes of your time, multiplied by
all of us, yields powerful results. Just imagine the power of this
network if we were 10,000 or 100,000 people. Imagine 100 Rapid
Responders in every town in every state of this country. Imagine what
we could do.
With your help, we can grow to numbers of 100,000 strong who, together,
have the power to change the face of this country one media alert, one
letter, one phone call, one person at a time.
Here's how you can help:
• Join your state and the national RR group
• Spread the word--tell others about Rapid Response
• Volunteer as a state RR coordinator, researcher or a writer
Join your fellow Iowans in the fight to take back the media for ordinary citizens. Click here to join RapidResponse - Iowa.
New Holes in Iowa Safety Net
by
Trish Nelson
on Sat 11 Dec 2004 05:03 PM CST
 New Holes in Iowa Safety Net
Iowa Fiscal Partnership
Iowa Human Services Budget Crunch - Report Shows Cuts to Human Services in Time of Need, Tough Choices Ahead
DES MOINES, Iowa - Lack of funding for human services over the last three years has created new holes in Iowa's safety net, according to a detailed study released by the Iowa Fiscal Partnership (IFP).
"Without strong corrective action, these holes will get bigger, rather than smaller, in the next fiscal year," said Charles Bruner, executive director of the Child & Family Policy Center (CFPC) and co-author of the report for the IFP. "This lack of funding occurred despite the recession producing greater demand and need for human services."
The IFP analysis focused upon changes in state appropriations and federal expenditures between fiscal year 2001 and fiscal year 2004, the period when the recession hit and states experienced fiscal crises in balancing their budgets. The report analyzes changes in economic assistance and child care funding, medical services funding, child and family services (primarily child welfare) funding, mental health and disabilities funding, and funding for managing and delivering services.
During the three-year period, state general fund appropriations for the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) declined by 9.7 percent, while over the same general period child poverty increased by 23 percent. Non-general fund expenditures, primarily federal funds through Medicaid and other federal grants, increased during the period, enabling the state to continue current eligibility levels for most programs, including the Medicaid and HAWK-I, Iowa's State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
The non-general fund expenditures included significant one-time revenue sources and an enhanced federal reimbursement rate under Medicaid that has since expired, however. This will mean Iowa must find other revenue sources to maintain current levels of commitment under its human service programs in future years.
Even with these additional federal funds, Iowa had to create holes in the safety net in order to balance the Iowa DHS budget between fiscal year 2001 and 2004, according to the report. Specific impacts included:
- Elimination or dramatic reduction in a number of discretionary programs, particularly those that were more preventive in focus, such as family support subsidies, emergency assistance, individual development accounts, and Family Development and Self Sufficiency (FaDSS) funding.
- A reduction in overall service system support for child welfare services, despite a 14.8 percent increase in the number of confirmed cases of child abuse and a variety of reports calling for increased investment to address system deficiencies.
- A reduction of 38.3 percent in bed capacity at the four state mental health institutes, at the same time that a number of hospitals were closing or downsizing their psychiatric beds.
The state Medicaid and HAWK-I programs constituted the largest share of the Department of Human Services budget and grew substantially during the period, in part due to the increased cost of health care and in part due to an increase in the number of people, particularly children, who were served. Currently, a Medical Assistance Crisis Intervention Team is conducting meetings around the state on how to address budget shortfalls in Medicaid.
From 2001 to 2004, Iowa managed the growth in Medicaid costs and expenditures through drawing from some reserve funds that cannot be ongoing sources of support and benefited from an increased federal matching rate that has now expired.
While not raising the eligibility standard, the number of children served under Medicaid or HAWK-I programs increased by 31 percent, from 168,261 to 220,487. The IFP report attributes this increase to two factors: (1) an increase in the number of children who qualify due to the impacts of recession, and (2) an increase in the number of children who qualify because the private sector's health coverage for employees no longer offers affordable family coverage.
"While people talk about the Medicaid crisis," Bruner said, "we would have a much bigger crisis if there were no Medicaid program. Medicaid or HAWK-I now covers nearly one-third of all Iowa children - and most of the increase in coverage is for children in working families. While children are not a high-cost group from a medical coverage perspective, children need primary and preventive health services.
"Because of rising health care costs, businesses are less likely to be able to offer family coverage at affordable rates for children. It only has been the presence of Iowa's Medicaid and HAWK-I programs that has kept the uninsurance rates for children from rising in this state. Until we address health care in a more comprehensive manner, Iowans should view Medicaid and HAWK-I as the best available solution to health care coverage for children, and not as a problem."
Overall, the study found that Iowa's Medicaid program has contained health care costs for specific service areas at least as successfully as the private sector, to the point that some services, such as dental care, while technically available under Medicaid, are hard to obtain, as providers are unwilling to accept Medicaid as a payment source.
"The Iowa Department of Human Service's budget is complex, but we could not find significant areas where funding has not been severely constrained during this period, at some human cost," report co-author Victor Elias noted. "Clearly, cuts created additional holes in Iowa's safety net. There were also temporary patches to shore up the safety net. We need more permanent funding to maintain, let alone repair the safety net's patches during the next legislative session."
The IFP is a joint tax and budget analysis effort of the CFPC in Des Moines and the Iowa Policy Project in Mount Vernon.
Uncle Sam Wants You
by
Trish Nelson
on Sat 11 Dec 2004 09:51 AM CST
 Uncle Sam Wants YOU!
fyrewede.blogspot.com
That's right -- you can stop looking around. I'm talking to YOU.
Republican, Democrat, Green, Independent, I don't care. Your country needs you to answer the call.
A call to arms, you ask? No, no...the call to serve in public office.
I know, I know - "Eww," you say, decent upstanding citizen that you
are, "I couldn't do it. Soil my pristine soul shaking hands with those
slimebags? Never. I'll leave that to the manipulators, weasels, and
corrupt dirtbags of the world."
Fine. I hear you. It's something I said for years and years and years
until I really started thinking about what that attitude has bought me
thusfar, and where it will leave us 50 years from now (with a special
thanks to Kate Coyne-McCoy of Emily's List for opening my eyes in that
regard). Now I charge you to think about it.
If only the palm-greasers and back scratchers run for office, what kind of government will we have?
We deserve better don't you think?
Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives Gaye Symington said
something very wise at this year's State Democratic Convention and I am
paraphrasing her loosely here (if anyone has the exact words she used,
please forward them on to me) - she said, "Do not trust your democracy
only into the hands of those who are naturally drawn to politics."
Look at what doing so for the past 25 years has bought us, especially
at the national level. Vice, graft, divisivness, hypocrisy - enough
already! Haven't you had enough? I know I have.
We do not need any more career politicians, movie stars, and
billionaire playboys running for office. What we need are more nurses
and firemen, day care providers and teachers, stay-at-home parents and
construction workers, and (dammit!) ordinary Janes and Joes. People who
have been out there living life, up to their elbows in the muck of
reality struggling to make ends meet, whose life choices and decisions
have been centered around supporting their family and their community,
not on what would be most politically expedient or financially
rewarding.
If all of us regular Joes and Janes get involved - serve on the school
board or run for the Senate, it matters not -- then regardless of Party
affiliation, we'll end up with a government worthy of our attention and
loyalty (and the world's respect) once again. It IS possible. But only
if you become the change you wish to see in the world around you -- you
set the tone and, if the fire is in your belly, lead the charge so that
others like you can follow.
Calling Mr. (or Ms.) Smith. Like it or not, Washington needs you.
NOW.
"Just get up off the ground, that's all I ask. Get up there with that lady that's up on top of this Capitol dome, that lady that stands for liberty.
"Take a look at this country through her eyes if you really want to see something. And you won't just see scenery; you'll see the whole parade of what Man's carved out for himself, after centuries of fighting. Fighting for something better than just jungle law, fighting so's he can stand on his own two feet, free and decent, like he was created, no matter what
his race, color, or creed. That's what you'd see. There's no place out there for graft, or greed, or lies, or compromise with human liberties. Great principles don't get lost once they come to light. They're right here; you just have to see them again!"
Jefferson Smith, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
posted by Fyrewede
Join your fellow Iowans in the fight to take back the media for ordinary citizens. Click here to join RapidResponse - Iowa.
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